It occurred to me at the GTG in Goshen that Barth is not the only high quality coach made in the same time frame and as we age and our travels take their toll we are soon be be either shrinking or hanging on. We had one Hawkins person log on asking for advice and my searching turned up that Hawkins was and is still primarily a west coast group. It seems to me, because they are similar in quality, engines, trannies and interiors that we might gain some new friends on the East Coast and South if we opened up our GTG's to them. While they were never the full aluminum coaches we have they did build an aluminum superstructure and were never the stick and staple kind. Does anyone think we might consider inviting them to join us so we can expand our GTG's and maybe meet new people who share our passions? They are at :hmclub.homestead.com

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who is interested is welcome. Hawkins were great coaches.

I have always felt the coach owners are more interesting than the coaches. The best part about Barth owners is their attitude. We all have aging orphan coaches, which require us to be a bit more involved with our coaches than the average generic coach owners.

The more the merrier, let's see what we can do!

I think appreciation of build quality of vintage RVs is the deciding attribute.

Numerous non-brand-specific RV groups exist. Some brand-specific clubs (such as Foretravels) have GTGs that are organized and controlled to the utmost detail. Surely they DO NOT allow aliens.
Fortunately, that is not the case with Barthmobile. I feel fortunate that I, and my S.O.B., may participate in Barthmobile events and the forum itself. That said, it makes no sense to me to move away from the exclusivity of this group.
If I had never owned a Barth, I'd feel awkward. I think many people with S.O.B's would.
just my two cents...

I believe there was a time when Barth ownership led to an exclusive Barth group called the Barth Rangers. High end, very structured rallies were the norm. Look where they are now...

The Hawkins rally with 145 coaches was in 1991. I wonder how they are doing now.

I find it interesting that the price of the coach seems to be proportional to the restrictions on membership. (After all, if I had a $200,000 coach why would I want to include THOSE people with a $30,000 coach?...)

Now that Barths are orphans with declining value we seem to have a different group of owners. In all fairness, I never knew the Rangers but I am very happy with current owners I know. For me, it is not about the coach at all. Sure the Barths are great coaches but it is the owners who make the group special.

I would hate to lose the likes of Mark, Marvin, Tom, Nick and others just because they decided to buy a coach that is not a Barth.

I doubt that we'll ever be "overrun" by SOBs, especially the high end types! (I think THEY would be the ones worrying about US crashing their rallies!)

Meanwhile let us enjoy each others company and support as we and our coaches continue to age gracefully!

Being a Barth for only 2 years, here is my 2 cents. We should always make an attempt to invite former Barth owners to our GTC's along with their SOB's. Most former owners probably do not even look at our website. So it may be a good ideal to get everyone's email address now so that we can stay in touch with former owners in the future for such events. I would also recommend that there be at least 3 GTC's each year, one in the East, one in Midwest and one in the West to allow all an ample opportunity to attend throughout the United States.

Fred & Cindy Cook

quote:

I think appreciation of build quality of vintage RVs is the deciding attribute.

I couldn't agree more. Anyone that has interest in and can provide quality feedback on these great coaches is welcome, as far as I'm concerned. We all have the same goal in mind, keep these quality coaches on the road. Any older coach out there that doesn't have the quality build that a Barth has is rotting away in someone's back yard, parked next to their wood shed.

Like said earlier, our numbers will continue to dwindle and we don't want to lose all that knowledge past owners have and what we could gain from other SOB owners. I know we have lost a few since I have joined Barthmobile. So if we can add other interested SOB owners and feed off their knowledge as well, it's all good.

Like Steve said, I find the owners more interesting than their coaches.

'Like said earlier, our numbers will continue to dwindle'
Just curious, how many Barth owners do we have that are under 40? I'm not sure that the generation called the 'millennials', are interested in preserving these coaches. And there's nothing wrong with that. Every thing has its own time.
Jim

Just had to comment on the age 40. You will be hard pressed to find many motor home of any type where the owner is under 40. The RV owner is getting older.

A great example is FMCA which is now run by a bunch of old farts. When it was formed most of the members were in their 30s with kids and hence the name family. We had a member of our club in MN that was 29 when he as mid west VP. Another member was early 40s when President of FMCA. Now they should be called RMCA or Retired Motor Coach Assoc.

I have been to a couple of Barth Ranger rallies. They were really upset about Dave starting Barthmobile. It detracted from their club, or so they believed. They never really understood that this is really not a club but a web based Barth dating site.

quote: "a web based Barth dating site"

...and you thought that all those ads in Barth sightings were about Barths???

....Nooooo just getting two soul mates together!!!

" Although owning a Barth isn't necessary to join our community, expect us to try to talk you into one... or two!"


This is all that should be said on this subject.

I agree Doorman!

Thanks for welcoming me into the group I had a great time and met a lot of very nice people. Second day towards home and the new distributor (week old)went out and suck meone a country road all day. A local mechanic got it running and I made it home. Thanks again for a great time.